23.Jul.2010 The start of a love affair

Spring of 2003 I picked up my first digital camera, it was an Olympus C-4000 Zoom. Not a bad little digital camera with automatic and manual settings. I loved this camera to death. The idea of digital photography compared to traditional film photography was really appealing to me, mostly for the fact that after the initial cost of the camera and memory, I didn’t have to continue spending lots of money to practice the craft. At the time, I was the Features Editor of the GRCC’s Collegiate Newspaper and wrote many stories which needed photographs. Prior to having my own camera, my options were to contact one of the student photographers and request a photo to be shot or wait for the only digital camera shared by the student newspaper staff to be free and hope it was during a time frame that fit the timing of my story.

My camera was a tool for school as well as pleasure. I though every picture I took back then was the best picture ever taken. Eager to learn more about my camera, I talked to the other photography students who worked on the student newspaper about enrolling in Intro to Photography only to be discouraged from the get go. I was filled with great sadness that day I was informed that the only photography instructor at the college, only taught film photography. The word on campus was, this instructor didn’t consider digital photography to be real photography and mentioning Photoshop would get you an earful about the sins against photography. So I kept on keeping on, doing my own thing without having a real understanding of the more technical aspects of photography including how to use the manual settings.

Of course my first digital camera did have its drawbacks. The main problem I had with it was the limited memory, max available per SmartMedia card was 128mb. Not to mention soon after picking up my Olympus, SmartMedia memory cards were discontinued. I used my camera regularly, I would shoot my friends and family during events like birthdays, weddings, and even just Sunday dinners for fun. I even made crazy collages of people, food, buildings and cars. That little camera took a few tumbles and kept on working. The only thing that stopped me from using my Olympus regularly was when my large 128mb memory card some how became corrupted. That left me with just my stock 16mb memory card. I used the camera a couple times after that, but it was a hassle to constantly have to download the images to continue taking pictures. Once I got my first camera cell phone in 2007, I forgot about my Olympus and it sat in its case collecting dust until earlier this year.

I was thrilled to discover the photography classes at GRCC now allow both digital and film cameras and require the use of Photoshop. I dusted off my old Olympus, put in freshly charged batteries and started my photography class. By the second day of class, I had an understanding of the basics; shutter, aperture  and ISO. Prior to that I had played with the manual settings a few times but never really understood what I was doing. With the basics under my belt and my old  digital camera in hand, a whole new world opened up in front of me. Up to that point, I considered my old camera to be worthless and outdated, but I was surprised to learn that it is not worthless, even though it is outdated, it is still a pretty good camera. It may be old and slow compared to newer cameras, but the pictures it produced were quite good considering. Add to that techniques such as panning, bracketing  and metering and all of a sudden the thought of buying an over priced outdated memory card for my camera off eBay to help me get through this class, didn’t seem so outlandish anymore.

Photography has reached a new place in my heart, I am in love with creating images. A few weeks into my photography class, I was exploring Photoshop techniques outside of class for making panoramas and tilt-shift photographs. I was hoping my love of photography would get me out and away from the computer, since I am a bit of a computer geek and spend too much time in front of a computer, but Photoshop keeps on drawing me back to it. I enjoy photography so much that I decided to switch my major. I had planned on starting my Bachelor of Arts at Grand Valley State University majoring in advertising, I am still studying advertising, but that is now my minor and I am majoring in photography.

I recently upgraded my camera since my next photography class requires a SLR with multiple lens. After months of research online I went to a couple stores to get my hands on different models of digital SLR’s. I ended up retiring my old slow Olympus for a new Nikon D90. I have absolutely no regrets about my decision, the D90 is everything I have ever wanted in a camera and more. I took some good photos with my trusty old Olympus, but compared to the quality of  the photos my Nikon produces, the difference between the two is as different as night and day. I take more pictures now than ever, it is truly something I love to do and share with others. The only downside to having a new digital camera is I have been told that I am torturing cat by taking too many pictures of her but that is a story for a different blog post.